EPUT appoints Paul Scott as new CEO

Paul Scott has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT).Paul, who is currently Chief Finance Officer at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUHFT), will take over from current CEO Sally Morris when she retires later this year.

Paul has extensive experience at board level and across the NHS. Paul worked as Executive Director of Finance, Strategy and Performance at Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust, where his remit included leading on long term partnerships as well as information and IT, before taking up his current post at CUHFT as CFO, where he has also had leadership responsibility for system development and integration. He previously held senior roles in the East of England Ambulance Service and at Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust.

Paul lives in Essex. He is passionate about community, mental health, and learning disability services, and will bring a deep understanding of how these services interface with the acute sector.

Professor Sheila Salmon, EPUT’s Chair, said: “I am delighted to announce Paul as the new Chief Executive Officer for EPUT. His impressive leadership skills and his enthusiasm for our business and our people came through very clearly during the recruitment process.

“Paul is well-regarded within the wider health and care system and has a proven track record. He has the relevant expertise, experience and values to lead EPUT through the next phase of evolution and to work collaboratively with our partners. I am confident he will help us achieve our vision of being the highly esteemed mental health, community and social care provider of choice for Essex through the delivery of high quality services.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to recognise and thank our outgoing CEO, Sally Morris, for her incredibly hard work and dedication over the last three years since the formation of EPUT from the former South Essex Partnership and North Essex Partnership trusts, successfully establishing EPUT as a sound, stable and well- respected organisation.”

Commenting on his appointment, Paul Scott said: “I am leaving some great colleagues in CUHFT. However, I am genuinely thrilled to be joining EPUT as Chief Executive.

“Through talking to staff and colleagues outside the Trust it is clear that EPUT is a great organisation with a critical mission to improve the health and wellbeing of people in Essex. Sally, and the EPUT team, have achieved a huge amount during the past three years and I am excited by the opportunities for EPUT to build on this.

“I am proud of the recognition given to EPUT by CQC – currently good overall and rated outstanding in some areas – but we have further improvements to make for the benefit of the people that and communities we serve. I feel privileged to be appointed as the Trust’s new leader and I am looking forward to meeting everyone and continuing the excellent work EPUT does for the people of Essex.”

Sally Morris, current Chief Executive Officer of EPUT, said: “I have always been immensely proud of our staff as skilled and dedicated individuals. But they have surpassed themselves in rising to the unprecedented challenges of the current global pandemic. I am beyond proud today as their Chief Executive and I feel privileged to have been with them every step of the way.

 “I wish Paul a long and successful tenure as EPUT’s new Chief Executive. I am even more confident now that I will be passing on to him a Trust whose staff are, by any measure, truly outstanding.”